In a tweet, @ACLU said, “Trump merely provided a faux sop to religious conservatives and kicked the can down the road on religious exemptions on reproductive care.”

Although Trump pledged to “destroy” the 1954 Johnson Amendment — a federal law prohibiting churches and other non-profit religious groups from explicitly endorsing or opposing political candidates — the order keeps the same prohibition in place.

Trump merely provided a faux sop to religious conservatives and kicked the can down the road on religious exemptions on reproductive care.

Trump has no power to repeal the Johnson Amendment with an executive order. Congress would need to repeal or amend the federal law.

The ACLU derided Trump for his Johnson Amendment pledge, tweeting that “Trump’s assertion that he wished to ‘totally destroy’ the Johnson Amendment with this order has proven to be a textbook case of “fake news.”

Trump’s assertion that he wished to ‘totally destroy’ the Johnson Amendment with this order has proven to be a textbook case of "fake news."

Trump’s executive order also directs the IRS not to take “adverse action” against churches and other tax-exempt religious organizations for participating in political activity without endorsing or opposing specific candidates — but that is part of the current law.

The section of the order that might be challenged by civil rights groups in the future directs federal agencies to provide “regulatory relief” for organizations that cite religious beliefs to object to the part of the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, that requires employers provide certain health services, including contraception coverage.

The ACLU warned it might sue in the future depending on how federal agencies act in response to the section of Trump’s order directing federal agencies “to explore religious-based exceptions to healthcare.”

“In the event that this order triggers any official government action at all, we will see Trump in court, again,” the ACLU tweeted.

The ACLU and other groups threatened to sue the Trump administration after a draft copy of the executive order was leaked, revealing that the proposed order appeared to legalize discrimination against women and members of the LGBT community.

Religious leaders expressed disappointment at Trump’s watered-down executive order and urged members of Congress to enact a law strengthening the right of churches to ignore federal laws.

“President Trump’s executive order on free speech and religious liberty, while welcome, is rather weak,” Ryan T. Anderson, a research fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, wrote in an opinion piece in The Hill. “It is woefully inadequate in meeting the challenges of our time. … Congress must act, therefore, to address the major threats to religious liberty in the United States today.”

“Now obviously, if this is the end of the story, I’m really disappointed, but I think we ought to hold out the hope that this is just the beginning and that there are more steps to be made,” Burnett said.

In the past 60 years, the IRS has stripped only one church of its tax-exempt status — after the church placed a full-page ad in a newspaper urging a vote against Bill Clinton.

9 Movies to Remind You How Bad US Health Care Used to Be - And Might Be Again (Photos)

The Republicans are continuing their attempt at repealing the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, with the Senate voting to push a repeal bill to floor debate. The bill looks to roll back a number of the protections put in place by the ACA to protect Americans from issues like being denied coverage for pre-existing conditions or hitting lifetime limits on care. But people hated American health care so much before 2010, Hollywood made plenty of movies, TV shows and documentaries about it. Here's a list of films that are a helpful reminder of how American health care used to be in the pre-2010 world.

"As Good As It Gets" (1997)Everyone remembers Jack Nicholson’s obsessive-compulsive jerk of a writer, Melvin. What's easy to forget is he uses his substantial wealth to bail out a waitress (Helen Hunt) from her son’s high medical bills for his asthma. She notes how she gets screwed by — guess who — her HMO when a doctor hired by Melvin shows up to give her son actual, competent medical care.

"Last Holiday" (2006)Greed bad, kindness good. That’s the moral of “Last Holiday,” in which Queen Latifah goes on an expensive vacation after learning she has a brain tumor that will kill her. Of course, her insurance won’t cover risky life-saving surgery. Latifah makes friends with almost everyone she meets at the hotel and they learn from her example. And then it turns out the tumor diagnosis was a mistake, so everyone wins.

"Dallas Buyers Club" (2013)Taking on the Food and Drug Administration rather than insurance companies, “Dallas Buyers Club” focuses on how federal foot-dragging kept life-saving drugs out of the hands of AIDS patients in the 1980s. Matthew McConaughey fights for the right to take an unapproved drug and wins, and learns to be less of a terrible person along the way.

"Critical Care" (1997)Getting the flipside of the healthcare debate, “Critical Care” is all about the level of care you receive when you have good insurance. Focusing on a man in a vegetative state, James Spader finds himself playing a doctor who wonders if it’s ethically cool to just keep people alive (and maybe suffering) because it’s profitable.

"Breaking Bad" (2008)Everyone knows Walter White (Bryan Cranston) becomes Heisenberg, a meth-making Albuquerque kingpin, but they might not remember why: medical bills. Walt receives a cancer diagnosis that he fears will bankrupt his family, and meth is a way for him to leave them enough money to survive before he goes. With issues like pre-existing conditions on their way back, it seems likely lots of people will be searching for extracurricular ways to pay their medical bills, and gofundme campaigns can only go so far.

"Sicko" (2007)Documentarian Michael Moore picks apart the healthcare system and highlights the people it leaves behind. That includes 9/11 first responders in New York. The film digs into the history and issues of the U.S. employer-based insurance system -- a lot of which will come back under the Republican bill -- and compares it to alternatives like those in Cuba, Canada and the United Kingdom.

"The Rainmaker" (1997)A John Grisham David v. Goliath legal story, “The Rainmaker” sees Matt Damon and Danny DeVito take an extremely evil insurance company to court. The extremely evil insurer denies coverage to a couple whose son is dying of leukemia, but Damon and DeVito eventually wallop it in court. The reality of fighting insurance companies in court in the future will likely be less uplifting.

"Saw VI" (2009)The infamous Jigsaw killer targets the guy who denied him insurance coverage for an experimental cancer treatment. Jigsaw’s revenge: Make the guy who decides who lives and who dies for a living do it in a much more hands-on, gory way. At the end of the movie, another family he decided not to cover gets to choose whether to melt the insurance guy with acid. Guess which option they pick.

"John Q" (2002)Denzel Washington plays a man whose son needs a heart transplant, but a technicality means his insurance won't cover it. He takes an emergency room hostage, but, since everyone knows how evil insurance companies are, he manages to befriend everyone there. And then his son gets his operation, and John saves the healthcare system.

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As Trump-threatened repeal vote looms, here’s a look back at how Hollywood covered the problems of the pre-Obamacare healthcare industry

The Republicans are continuing their attempt at repealing the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, with the Senate voting to push a repeal bill to floor debate. The bill looks to roll back a number of the protections put in place by the ACA to protect Americans from issues like being denied coverage for pre-existing conditions or hitting lifetime limits on care. But people hated American health care so much before 2010, Hollywood made plenty of movies, TV shows and documentaries about it. Here's a list of films that are a helpful reminder of how American health care used to be in the pre-2010 world.